Blind

Min-soo was a student at the police academy. She lost her sight in an accident and left. One night she gets into a car she takes for a taxi. On the way the car strikes something. The driver says there was no accident and puts her out. Min-soo goes to the police and gives a statement; she describes not what she saw but what she heard and felt: the sound of the engine, the texture of the seat cover, the driver's cologne. The police do not believe her. A girl disappears in that area the same night. Another witness appears: a young man on a motorcycle. Their statements contradict each other. Ahn Sang-hoon directs. Kim Ha-neul plays Min-soo and Yoo Seung-ho the young man. It is a Korean production. Kim Ha-neul won acting awards in Korea for the part. What the narrative builds is the senses; the evidence is not visual but heard and touched, and the film puts that at the centre of the detective mechanism. The guide dog is a functional element and the character's range of movement is built through it. The narrative shows blindness as a disadvantage and then turns it around; in the dark the advantage is hers. The last section takes place in a confined space and the tension is built through light. The film did well at the box office and was remade in other countries. Its limit is structure; the killer is one dimensional and the last section ties itself to a genre shape. Who it is for: viewers who like Korean crime films and thrillers built on a witness. Who it is not for: the violence is explicit, the shape familiar, and the finale overblown.